Modern-Day Thoreau

 Buying something like an RV is a whole lot harder than swiping your credit card at the Target checkout. If you're buying from a dealership, awesome, they take care of most of that for you. You sign the dotted line and they do the rest. Buying from another person is a little more complicated. Fortunately, the couple that we bought from had their stuff together. What exactly do you need? Bill of Sale - Effectively a receipt. Make sure you use your LEGAL name. And if you're buying with somebody you trust, I'd suggest an OR relationship for both your names, rather than an AND. Odometer Disclosure Statement - It may only matter with the type of RV that you can drive, but we had one anyway. Pretty easy to prove 0 miles on something that can't make itself go. Certificate of Title - or just "Title" for short. Proves that you are the owner. Buyer and seller both sign it, to prove that the transition of ownership was intentional. Got all that? Now take it to your count...

There's an old riddle that I've heard: What can you put in a barrel to make it lighter? I've heard several answers that may be more or less correct, but the "right" answer is a hole. You put a hole "in" a barrel, you're physically removing material, and it makes the barrel weigh less. Similarly, what is this camper missing? Space. Technically, it's missing a lot of things because we don't have the space, but space itself is the core problem here. If we had more space, we could fit more of the things we need. It's also missing privacy and distance (a derivative of space), but that's neither here nor there. We haven't moved in yet, but I know that's going to cause some issues. Occasionally, I just need to go to another room and get away from everyone for a minute or two. When the entire dwelling consists of a single small space, with a partition for the even smaller bathroom, you don't have that luxury anymore. I'll prob...

 There she is. We own a camper. I'm calling her "Walden" since I don't think Thoreau had a name for his cabin. Next closest thing. A word to the wise on the problems I encountered: Make sure you have a vehicle that can tow it - I did some research and determined that the weight was probably within what my truck could handle. I DID NOT check on the ball size of the trailer hitch. Apparently there are different sizes, and they make adapters. I'll have to get one of those before I can move it myself. Agree on a payment method with the seller - I showed up and started writing a personal check. It didn't occur to me before then that a stranger may not be good for a few grand, so I probably should have brought a more guaranteed form of payment. Eventually, we agreed on a cashier's check. Our next move is to determine placement and start hooking up to utilities.

 I bought a camper today. The plan is to move my family of four into it, sell our house, and then stay there while we build our dream home. Fortunately, we'll have it set up on my grandparents' land, so we should have quite a cushion to depend on while we figure things out and get comfortable there. I have to confess, I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I've only stayed in a camper for weekend trips through weekends during my childhood, with me and my old man. I certainly never stayed in one for months on end, and definitely not with four people. Part of this almost gives me the romantic notion of "Walden" and I like to think I'm a modern-day Henry David Thoreau, hence the name of the blog. " Modern-Day Walden " was already taken by a blog with one post, written a decade ago. But whatever, it's fine. This blog is intended to be part journal, part rant session, and part DIY tips. There will be several instances of figuring things out by tr...